08/16/2026
A powerful reminder of the responsibility of church membership from Jeff Greenway.
SOME THOUGHTS IN CHURCH MEMBERSHIP AND COMMITMENT
A relationship with a church is no different than a relationship with a person. In the same way some people cycle through relationship after relationship—others cycle through church after church. The Apostle Paul reminds Timothy:
“If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the buttress of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)
So—how ought we behave? My experience has taught me there are five stages of church commitment—each with associated behaviors:
First, when we are new to a church, we think: “This is the perfect church! I am going to give it my all!” We know this isn’t realistic. There are no perfect churches. If you ever find one—you’ll ruin the whole thing the moment you show up. This sense of newness is temporary because it’s based on an illusion. The perfect church doesn’t exist.
Second, before long, we get confused about a church and think: “What! This church isn’t perfect!?!” When reality pops our honeymoon balloon at a church, we feel temporarily disoriented and stunned. That this happens is stunning in itself, but it happens all the time.
Third, we become disenchanted with a church: We think, “I thought this was a perfect church…” This is the point at which people say, “I have been hurt by the church.” The church isn’t whatever that person thought it would be or should be, and they are brought to a crisis point.
Fourth, we need to make a decision about the church: Either “I am going to quit this church and look for a perfect church” or “I am going to realize that no church is perfect and serve God anyway.” I want to be very clear—some churches are toxic and getting out is the right move—which is what my church recently did denominationally. If you want to be functional—don’t stay at a church that is dysfunctional. But let me give a word of caution—if we are too quick to hit the eject button every time the plane ride gets bumpy, we are sure to crash a lot of planes on one hand and never learn to pilot in bad weather on the other.
Here is the deal: even highly effective churches consist of flawed people— flawed systems—and flawed leaders—because we live in a flawed and fallen world. Sometimes leaving is the right answer, but much more often the right play is to stay and be a part of making something better.
The final stage is maturity—when we come to the place where we say: “This is an imperfect church! But it is my church, and I am going to give it my all.” Those who grow to this point get all the benefits of loving their church, but they are now in a sustainable position to serve effectively for the long haul. They don’t expect that things will be easy—systems will be flawless—and that people will never make mistakes. They understand the church is an imperfect institution—lead by imperfect people—attempting to fulfill the mission of a perfect savior.
It was with people like this that Jesus Christ built his Church! Be mature in your church membership commitments, my friends!
Bishop Jeff Greenway
